Tough week for the Lady Grizz

Injuries piled up for Rocky Mountain on Thursday as Burlington swept the Lady Grizz, but the team remained focused on fundamentals and improving its blocking through a new vertical jump program.

Sawyer Bassett was hit in the face by a hard spike from Burlington’s Sara McNiven but recovered in time to play against Shoshoni Saturday. Kaysie Cooley sprained an ankle after stepping on a Burlington player’s foot yet still led Rocky Mountain in digs.

“My bench was ready for action and played well,” coach Kay Townsend said of the Burlington contest. “Whitney Asay stepped up to cover for Cooley and did a fantastic job.” Taylor Grandalen replaced Bassett and recorded two kills and eight hits, Townsend said.

“We had some great serving effort against them,” Townsend said. “Sawyer, Halle (Grandalen), Leah (Haslem), Annie (Crosby) and Taylor had 100% serving, giving our team 94% serving (overall).”

Burlington opened with a 25-15 win. Despite the injuries, Rocky Mountain pushed the Huskies in the second set before falling 25-22. Burlington closed the match with a 25-14 victory in the third.

The Lady Grizz regrouped Saturday in Shoshoni for a 2A West conference match against the Lady Blue. Rocky Mountain did not win the match but claimed the third set 25-19.

“Shoshoni came ready to play,” Townsend said. “Our skills look fantastic. We need to find a way to play to win instead of playing not to lose. We seem to struggle with keeping a run going. We play point for point instead of stringing a row of points together, and when you get behind, you have to string some points together to catch up.”

Shoshoni won the first two sets 25-20 and 25-17. Rocky Mountain answered in the third before the Lady Wranglers took the fourth 25-11. Haslem set 106 balls, served 19 times and recorded one ace. Halle Grandalen had 29 digs, Cooley added 13 and Bassett finished with 12, showing Rocky Mountain’s depth and grit.

Rocky Mountain will play Wind River in Pavillion this Friday in another 2A West conference match. The freshman match begins at 3 p.m., followed by junior varsity at 4 p.m. and varsity at 5 p.m.

The Lady Grizz then travel to Greybull for another conference match Saturday at noon.

“We will be looking to put two W’s in our win column,” Townsend said.

Rocky Mountain volleyball will hold its Pink Out night October 23 during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This year’s event will support Tammy McFarlane during her battle with breast cancer. Wendy Hubbell is selling a variety of shirts, with 20% of the proceeds going to McFarlane. Community members also can donate through Venmo at @RMMHS.

Donations may also be made at the game on October 23.